These days, when I want to discover new music, this is what I do:
1. Open Spotify 2. Search for an artist, song, or genre 3. Start the radio based on what I searched for 4. Let the algorithm do its thing
It works well enough. I find music that's new to me with very little effort. Sometimes I come across songs I want to save to a playlist. It works...but I wouldn't call it fun.
It didn't use to be that way. Over a decade ago, I spent a lot of time (seriously, so much time) on a website called TheSixtyOne. It was part music discovery, part game, and part community. And I had so much fun.
The site doesn't even exist anymore, so I can't link you to it. But here's its brief Wikipedia entry and a screenshot I found on festivalpeak.com.
TheSixtyOne was a streaming site where artists could upload their music, most of which was independent and/or unknown at the time.
Listeners had a certain number of hearts they could spend each day. When you found a song you liked, you could give it a heart and bump it up the charts. If more people listened to the song after you bumped it, you gained experience points. As you completed challenges and leveled up, you earned more hearts you could spend. You could purchase tracks and send messages to artists. And the artists wrote back! (Keep in mind this was before all of us were on every social network.)
The game aspect kept me coming back to the site, and playing the game helped me discover more music.
I first heard Jukebox the Ghost on TheSixtyOne, and they're still my favorite band. I don't know if I would have found them otherwise.
Here are some other bands I first heard on TheSixtyOne circa 2008: - Arcade Fire - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Elizabeth and the Catapult - I Fight Dragons - Ingrid Michaelson - Jonathan Coulton - M83 - MGMT - RAC
I still listen to their music today! That amazes me. TheSixtyOne wasn't just a way to discover music. It was also a way to figure out my music tastes. By playing the game, I found music that stuck with me.
I don't know of anything today that can do that. If you know of something -- a site, an app -- please let me know over on Twitter. I'd love to have a fun way to discover music again.
